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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26945812">Tortoise and The Hare</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChingKittyCat/pseuds/ChingKittyCat'>ChingKittyCat</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hoshi no Kaabii | Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Kirby - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Corruption, Evil, Gaslighting, Gen, Moral Lessons, Post-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 02:42:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,265</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26945812</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChingKittyCat/pseuds/ChingKittyCat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Yamikage had somewhere to be; anywhere other than here.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Tortoise and The Hare</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>    Maybe he'd gotten lost.</p><p>    Maybe he'd gotten extremely lost after he tripped on a rock and slammed his head on another one, giving him a migraine and incapacitating him more than it should've. Maybe, just maybe, after he fell, his natural sense of direction had completely left him and he'd found himself going in circles. </p><p>    He even tried to head back the way he came and only seemed to get more and more lost.</p><p>    The bruise on Yamikage's forehead was nothing to him, really, just a slight sting. The wounds he'd gotten from Kirby, on his ego, were far bigger in size and scope than the one he'd gotten from a rock on the ground. He'd sworn his revenge, and he couldn't get it in the condition he was right now.</p><p>    He needed to train, he needed to get back to NME. Maybe he'd humbly request for the wizard he'd served in the war and in the company to give him some sort of magical powers, far more than he'd had right now. He'd had the power of the wind, and it had helped in war, but apparently war-winning powers are nothing against tiny pink orb boys.</p><p>    Regardless, Yamikage kept his hand off his bruise and went to go relax. It's not like NME was going to get destroyed if he didn't come back immediately, especially if he just waited until he got his bearings. He just needed to happen upon another town with a transporter, since the last one he was at he couldn't get back to if he tried. And he did try.</p><p>    He'd find another one, he'd find other towns, and he'd get back like that. Yamikage promised himself that as he let himself laze in the sun.</p><hr/><p>    The days were ungodly on Yamikage's eyes. He constantly had to squint when he wasn't in the shade. The sun was so bright, much moreso than any other planet Yamikage had been on in a while. Granted, the last place he'd been assigned to was a place full of clouds and he spent a lot of time on a fortress that has all fluorescent lightbulbs. </p><p>    Yamikage had plenty of time to adjust to the light of the sun.</p><p>    He slumped over against a palm tree. This place, he'd been here multiple times before. Orange Ocean. He just called it that because it was orange and also an ocean, and he usually found his way there around the time the sun set. </p><p>    Things were really seeming to be hopeless. He hadn't been counting the days, but he was very sure it'd been an sickening amount of time since he was back at the fortress. His sense of direction, his sense of time, all of that was gone. His sense of self preservation and desire for survival were still very healthy and fit. As were his legs from how much rushing around he did. Sure, he was never chased or anything, but he liked to get around quickly.</p><p>    Regardless, the moments of breaks he gave himself were pleasant on them after a full day of running. Yamikage felt like a steam engine coming to a halt as he sat there, against the tree, sand at his heels. He felt like his mind and body was expelling steam and cooling off from all the effort he'd been putting in as of late.</p><p>    It'd been.. So long since he'd been to any sort of civilization. Sure, he'd been to castles, but they were full of monsters and generally useless. He wouldn't be surprised if that little town was the first and only civilization on this Stars-forsaken planet. </p><p>    He needed to find his way back there and use that transporter. He dug the thought into his mind and he really resolved himself on the idea of doing so. He didn't have anyone here except himself and the woodland creatures who attacked him.</p><p>    He remembered that the place had a large mountain near it. One with large walls around it that seemed to act as barriers for said mountain. He'd heard that said mountain was the home of some bird, but that didn't matter to him. What did matter was finding it and using it as a gigantic landmark. So, Yamikage got himself up off the sand and started walking down the shoreline. He'd get there eventually, seeing as the place was on the coast.</p><p>    His walk was nicely accented by the glittering orange sea, and the orange sun he'd gotten used to. He just hoped to get to the comfort of his room on the fortress sooner rather than later.</p><p>    It turns out it'd be later. Because as he walked, his day went into night, then morning, then night again. For what Yamikage could only count as maybe a couple weeks or so, with no sign of anything other than the monsters who littered the shoreline. Maybe Yamikage's name or infamy wasn't anything to them because they still attacked him.</p><p>    Even now, some fuzzy bear in a headband was rushing at him from further down the beach. Yamikage didn't divert from his path whatsoever as when it got close enough, he hurdled over the beast and kept running. He could hear its confusion from behind him as he dodged monsters, training his agility. These little pink flies would swoop at him, and he'd duck or simply jump ontop of them to launch himself further away.</p><p>    It was like an exercise to him, not a threat or anything truly endangering. He'd been through worse, back on the fortress, during the war. So yes, call him overtly confident but he was extremely sure that nothing on this planet, other than Kirby or Meta Knight, was a danger to him.</p><p>    Including that weird little group of people in the distance.</p><p>    Wait.</p><p>    Group of people. Little guys who seemed to almost be the same species as him, just more circular. By the shoreline, holding nets, pulling stuff out of the ocean. Yamikage looked around for shelter in order to get closer, only to find nothing but plains beside him and a few odd palm trees. He growled and grumbled to himself, finding the entire idea of hiding in a tree ridiculous. But other than smoke bombs (which he had quite few of) he had no way to conceal himself. Plus hiding behind a tree that was easily much bigger than him would be rather stupid looking.</p><p>    Why should he bother hiding? It's not like this planet had any real strong authorities, and he was Yamikage for the Star's sake! He was a hardened war veteran! He was a top class field worker for the universe's monopoly!</p><p>    So, of course, Yamikage just gripped onto his sword and marched right on over to these folks. They didn't even notice him until he had cleared his throat behind them. He stood there for like ten seconds with not a single notice.</p><p>    They just sort of looked him over strangely, like his interruption was at the most only slightly inconveniencing. Seeing as how they were naive, supposedly, to who he was, he decided to go with a much better route than he had originally planned.</p><p>    "Hello," he greeted with only a small bit of difficulty due to his general social incompetence, "I have been travelling for a while now and you're the first sign of civilization I've seen in a while. I would appreciate it if you could bring me back to wherever you're from with you."</p><p>    The other men looked amongst eachother, and for a moment Yamikage was concerned that they may not have spoken the same language as he did. </p><p>    "..Is that it?"</p><p>    The man closest to Yamikage wondered. Yamikage perked an eyebrow under his mask, but it didn't exactly show to the (what he assumed to be) fishermen infront of him.</p><p>    "Yes..?"</p><p>    Yamikage's slightly confused answer just invited a small, awkward silence. Then, another fisherman spoke up.</p><p>    "No threats?"</p><p>    "No?"</p><p>    "Then we're not taking you back with us."</p><p>    Yamikage would've blinked but honestly he was used to people who were wary of outsiders. It didn't surprise him that they didn't trust him, especially since this entire planet was so secluded and country-bumpkin-esque.</p><p>    Yamikage's sword glimmered in the light of the sun, seemingly eager for action.</p><p>    "I can threaten you if you want, that'd be no problem for me."</p><p>    "We don't want a war criminal in our village, and we're all honorable enough to die to make sure you don't get to it."</p><p>    The spit back was basically like a spit right into his face. Okay. Yamikage's eyes widened a little bit as he dug onto his sword with his mitt-like hand.</p><p>    Yeah, no, then guess they did know who he was. War criminal, though.. That didn't make sense. He was on the winning side, his crimes against the GSA had been wiped out with them. How had some random villagers heard of him, much less his 'crimes'?</p><p>    "..What's my name." He asked.</p><p>    "Yamikage."</p><p>    "How do you know that."</p><p>    "That's none of your business."</p><p>    Yamikage felt like honestly, this was just a delusion. But it couldn't be. So, instead, Yamikage resolved to try and pull himself together and not just straight up start stabbing these people. Which was a big thought in his mind right now. It wouldn't solve anything, but he just wanted to.</p><p>    "It is my business, it is my identity, and you will tell me where and who you got that from or I will strike you down."</p><p>    Yamikage was stern, but the fishermen were even more firm on their stance. They were especially firm when they dropped the net they were holding and went for their line cutters to attack him with.</p><hr/><p>    Yamikage looked to the abandoned net with a sense of bittersweet entitlement. Technically, he'd fought and killed for something else, but the net full of its fish could be his additional reward. </p><p>    The net had been somewhat pulled onto shore before the fishermen were 'mysteriously stabbed and rendered lifelessly immobile via stabbing'. The ocean had tried to pull it back, and the struggle of the fish was fair enough to pull it back slightly. But it simply was not enough to pull all the fish free of their confines through the large opening at the still land-bound net hole.</p><p>    Yamikage trekked down to the end of the next, examining the fish and the catch he'd basically earned. He pressed his hand to their wet, scaley selves as they thrashed about in an almost mindless fashion against them.</p><p>    No, this wasn't earned. This was cheating. It was stealing. </p><p>    Yamikage grumbled and looked down at the fish, squeezing his eyes shut momentarily before opening them to a soft yet shaky sigh. First, he took off his shoes and socks for precaution. Then he grasped onto the net and tugged with the weight in his favor. He pulled it back into the ocean, getting water basically up to the middle of his legs.</p><p>    From there, all he had to do was cut the net. Easy enough, he had a sword. With a few slices to some parts, he as able to make a hole wide enough for the large fish to swim through. The things bashed at him as they desperately squirmed out, trying to get out of danger as quickly as possible. All it took was a simple jump back onto shore to assure he didn't get knocked over.</p><p>    In the meantime, he went and looked over the bodies of the fishermen. He wrinkled his 'nose' in disgust and embarrassment as he was forced to essentially look through their things. Like a looter. How shameful.</p><p>    He had no care for the money they carried nor the other things on their persons. He found small books of fishing records, there, he found the fishing company name. 'Hiroi Fisheries'. Yamikage noted to himself the fact that there was even a name there at all, that there was a need to distinguish amongst other fisheries. Wherever he was going, it was certainly no small village, and this potentially an actual place worth noting as dangerous.</p><p>    These people, these little orb people were cold and brave enough to die honorably. If there was a whole city's worth of them, it didn't matter if Yamikage was a Star Warrior and a war veteran, he'd surely get killed or.. Worse.</p><p>    He let the worry permeate his mind softly as he put the book back on the fisherman he took it from, continuing his search through their pockets. He found trash, general fishing garbage. He'd take some of it but he had no place to put it. Also, he didn't steal and he most certainly didn't take from the dead. This suit didn't have all the survival pockets his other suits had, anyways. All he could carry now was just his sword and like, maybe a stick or two he could sidle into the scabbard for his sword. But he didn't want to do that because, well, obvious reasons.</p><p>    As he kept searching and looking, he could've sworn he saw one of the fishermen's bodies had moved from where he'd left them last. A head movement or something. Yamikage counted that up to them still being alive, but that'd change in a little bit. He'd let time kill the poor soul while he sorted here. What he didn't count as a fisherman being alive is when he felt a presence behind directly behind him, only to turn around and see nothing but the ocean and sand. </p><p>    Yamikage's eyes darted around as he looked up and down the beach for someone, anyone, only to find the bodies he'd created.</p><p>    After a small internal scolding for being so paranoid, he finally managed to find something on the fisherman he was searching. Something which seemed to be a map. A rather small in scale as to the places it had drawn on it, but enough for Yamikage to understand where he was. There were beaches circled on the map, multiple of them. Then, around near the middle of the map was this decently large.. Thing, which he could only assume was an outline of a city. Or at the very least, a large settlement.</p><p>    Yamikage looked along the shorelines on the map, trying to pinpoint where he was. He couldn't tell, honestly, but he was just going to say that he was not close to the settlement, and still had to keep along the shore to get to it. Considering how generally flat everything was around here, he'd very easily be able to tell when he'd found the place. He had seen no such place so far. It was probably just over the horizon.</p><p>    With that in mind, he folded the map back up and put it back where it belonged. He'd leave the fishermen to the sea's mercy, he thought it proper their bodies be washed over. He didn't really know the customs or anything, but it just felt right.</p><p>    As he left, Yamikage did a double take behind him. He looked back at the mess he'd made as if he expected something to happen now, or for someone to move. No one moved, not more than the waves made them. Nothing happened. He held the stare at the bodies for much longer than he wanted to, then he moved on.</p><p>    The sound of the waves was calming, at least. But he could've sworn he heard something in their tiny crashes at one point, like something or someone was walking in them. He wasn't sure what it was about those noises he couldn't understand or hear very well, but if it weren't for the shining of the comforting sun, Yamikage probably would've been a feeling something other than mildly annoyed.</p><hr/><p>    It only took so long for him to find the place he wanted to find. His departure from the beaches into the grasslands around the settlement began when he saw even the faintest sign of docks in the distance. He was lucky enough to not find any more fishermen on his way over, despite it having been hours since he saw that last group. Which, yes, incase you're wondering for whatever reason, he has put on his sandals and socks by now.</p><p>    With the sun beginning to go down, he was thankful he could be lead by the light of the settlement rather than by the light of the moon. </p><p>    As he walked, and walked, he thought of what he was going to do when he got there. He surely couldn't stay, he couldn't feign he wasn't who he was. If even fishermen knew him by name, then surely everyone would. Sure, maybe it was just some special case, but it was better safe than sorry. He needed to worry about who was in that town, and how they'd heard of him.</p><p>    With the coming of night he felt like he'd had a better chance to not get caught by the citizens there. Regardless, they had some form of communication between planets or at the very least other kingdoms, and Yamikage needed to borrow that communication to get to NME. Even just a phone line would work, he'd committed the emergency field worker line to memory.</p><p>    So, Yamikage walked as agonizingly slow on his way to the settlement, ultimately finding that by the time he'd gotten there it'd basically be very early into dusk. He had a hard time sitting and waiting on the cusp of his own rescue, of finally talking to someone and going home. Just the very grass itself was making him prickle with disgust and impatience.</p><p>    The longer he took to arrive, the more his logic said to wait, the harsher his legs desired to run and jump directly into someone's house and rip their landline off the wall. Then he'd take it with him to some safe location so he could call the imbeciles who'd basically abandoned him on this planet and finally go home.</p><p>    The moon creeping into the sky was horribly slow. He couldn't take it anymore, he couldn't wait for it to get up into the middle of its rotation, he was going and he was going to go now. Now, when it was probably not even harshly past the equivalent of 10 at night.</p><p>    The settlement didn't take him as much as an hour to get to with the wind working with him, as it always did when he'd told it to. The outskirts were full of nice farmland, ricefields that'd been tended to during the day. The wind blew the plants softly as he went along the path deeper into the belly of the beast. Further, further, until he passed the farms and their nice little homes into what was a main town, with actual nice paths and actual decent residential housing. </p><p>    No apartments, condos, or anything of the sort were in this village. It was all big houses and small ones. It felt familiar somehow, but Yamikage had been to plenty of different settlements in the past. It probably just reminded him of one of them.</p><p>    Yamikage's darting form wasn't terribly inconspicuous, but lady luck favored him in his desperate search and allowed him to find a house with its lights turned off basically immediately. He'd stopped upon its porch to find sliding doors, made of wood and a strange sort of paper. His wind, blowing behind him as he internally told it to become as loud as it could without damage to homes, allowed him to enter the home without anyone hearing.</p><p>    At least, none that he'd assumed would hear.</p><p>    He tried to shut the door behind him the best he could with all the wind. Creeping through the pitch black house proved to be just as hard as one would think. Just because he was a ninja didn't mean he was magically able to see in the dark or anything. It did mean he could be as quiet as possible as he crept, trying to find the landline. If there was even one in here.</p><p>    It took him a minute or so but he'd made it to a kitchen, where a battery operated landline sat on one of the counters. Picking up the phone, he heard the static that mean the phone was on from the line. So, he held it to himself and pressed the twenty number phone number and ten number password unique to him into the phone. He had to pause occasionally, but he was more than assured that the number was correct. He'd dialed it before, and he was confident in his ability to remember things that were important to his job. Plus, not like he'd repeated it in his mind during his entire multiple month journey to find civilization or anything. </p><p>    "Hello Yamikage." </p><p>    A female voice chimed from the other end, making Yamikage's mind race from excitement. Finally, finally he could go home. He could relax. He could eat some actual food for once. </p><p>    "The Nightmare Enterprises elite field worker emergency line is temporarily unavailable."</p><p>    Yamikage's eyes widened as the automated voice pushed out such a merciless sentence.</p><p>    "It has been," the voice paused as another, robotic one took its place, "ONE MONTH AND THREE DAYS," then it returned to normal, "since this line has been available. Don't worry, stay safe, we'll be available soon! Try calling back in a few minutes."</p><p>    Yamikage put the phone back onto its line. He stood there, bewildered, and reached to the phone again, picking it up with a hand he could feel the trembles of. He pressed the buttons on the landline again as he held the phone to his ear once more. </p><p>    He pushed them in again, all the same numbers.</p><p>    "Hello Yamikage. The Nightmare Enterprises elite field worker emergency line is temporarily unavailable. It has been, ONE MONTH AND THREE DAYS, since this line has been available. Don't worry, stay safe, we'll be available soon! Try calling back in a few minutes."</p><p>    He heard it again. Still trembling, he put the phone back onto the landline. He didn't feel like he was breathing as he picked it up again, put in the numbers again, and put the phone to his ear again.</p><p>    "Hello Yamikage. The Nightmare Enterprises elite field worker emergency line is temporarily unavailable. It has been, ONE MONTH AND THREE DAYS, since this line has been available. Don't worry, stay safe, we'll be available soon! Try calling back in a few minutes."</p><p>    Yamikage's throat was ready to yell out in frustration and screams, but he couldn't. His face was too pale and his mind was too empty to say anything. His entire being was focused on this phone and this voice. He wanted to hear something else, anything else, because what was being said was causing his palms to get clammy with cold sweat.</p><p>    He'd forgotten that he'd broken into someone's house, momentarily. For all he knew he was floating a void with just a phone and himself, nothing else. He gripped so harshly onto this terrible, cheap, plastic phone that he heard it creak. It snapped him back into reality.</p><p>    Something was wrong. No, he just needed to try another phone. He needed to try somewhere else. </p><p>    He put the phone down onto the landline, then he left without a problem. The most damage he'd done was a slight bit of strained plastic, but that's it. He just hoped the other phone he use would have the same perfectly fine sneak-in and out.</p><p>    It took Yamikage a bit longer to get into the next house sheerly because it was harder to find. But he got in, he creeped until he found a wall mounted landline in this home's little traditional living room.</p><p>    Calming his nerves, he pushed in the numbers, all thirty, and held the phone up to his ear.</p><p>    "Hello Yamikage. The Nightmare Enterprises elite field worker emergency line is tem-"</p><p>    He slammed the phone down onto the landline, realized what he'd done, then he rushed out of the house just as he heard someone stirring. He needed to get out of this place before something happened. </p><p>    He tried to run down a street. Down the street, coming towards him, were people. He was so surprised and bewildered that he fell straight onto his butt as he tried to skid to a halt. Thus commenced a desperate scramble as he kicked away, turned on a dime, and used his hands to get back up and dash away.</p><p>    There was yelling behind him, and he heard his name called. Yamikage immediately took the wind with him and commanded it internally to blow away those who followed. He could hear with their yells and his acceleration that it did as he'd requested.</p><p>    He was unsure was to why he was frightened so much by people he could easily cut down, but even when he used the wind to spring onto rooftops and use those to continue until he couldn't hear the yells of outrage over the wind, he kept running. He kept going and didn't turn back. He kept going, and going, until he saw a building large enough to jump onto and hide ontop of while being shielded from all angles. It was also reasonably tall, hard to get immediately up to.</p><p>    It was made of brick and looked rather out of place, but he had no time to question it as he got ontop of it. It took a rather forceful bit of extra wind to get him over to it and he must've pushed the wind too harshly onto his back because his landing was less than stellar. It caused him to slam onto building's side fairly ungracefully. The concrete and brick greeted him as concrete and brick would, causing him a great clatter and more than likely quite a few scrapes under his clothes and on his face. His hands gripped onto the side as he pulled himself up and over the side.</p><p>    He heaved his body directly behind the brick rim that the building's roof had. He laid flat down on the ground as to have it cover his body from sight to those on the ground. He'd basically gone straight into a corner and huddled there like some cowardly animal running from a predator.</p><p>    There, Yamikage had a direct vision of the Stars above. His ears and body shivered with the cold wind he commanded whirring all around him, roaring before slowing to a stop as Yamikage's control loosened with his consent, leaving it to be a rather nice night.</p><p>    Yamikage's ability to comprehend himself came back, and he just now noticed how heavy he was breathing. He was heaving, barely taking any air in. He'd become exhausted from so little exercise, how? Why? Just before he could run on a beach for hours no problem, but like five minutes of running and now he can't even so much as move an inch?</p><p>    His exhaustion and hyperventilation took entire minutes to fade as he'd just laid there, probably looking insane to whatever part of the Stars that was watching him. He'd managed to get through it, though. He was tempted to sit up, but considering how he would be seen above the rim of the building if he did that, he had to default to a weird crawl over to this large brick outcropping on the building, rectangular in shape and covered in metal doors on each of its three sides.</p><p>    Of course, Yamikage could only see one side, so he figured that it must've been some sort of closet of some sorts. </p><p>    "At least the wind is gone," a voice that sounded like a child from inside the 'closet' rang, "now it can be a good place for a fight."</p><p>    "You're just happy it's gone because I would've beat you senseless even if you had the wind helping you."</p><p>    Maybe had these two kids showed up earlier they would've seen him. Yamikage's veins began to run cold again. </p><p>    The door he was right next to swung open, blocking him from the view of whomever was exiting the building. Yamikage got to his feet immediately, unpressing himself to the wall before jumping ontop of the entrance way's roof, not alarming the two people whatsoever. However, what did alarm them was when he jumped back off of it, on the opposite side they'd come out of. He'd landed in a faulty way, and it didn't help the roof had like some weird gravel all over it.</p><p>    "Hey, who's there!?"</p><p>    One of the voices called, but Yamikage didn't bother to look back. His running away caused them to run after him, which eventually incited a gasp as he ran and jumped directly off the building.</p><p>    Yamikage did not take into account the fact that there was not a single building or thing under this side of the place. </p><p>    All it took was an internal command and the wind tried to push an incredible updraft against him. It wasn't widely successful due to how quickly he fell. He landed on the ground with a shoot of pain up his body, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. It'd probably just hurt to run for a little but seeing as none of his bones fractured, he was fine.</p><p>    "Woah, did you see that? He just-"</p><p>    "That's the guy I fought, that's who I was talking about! The-! We need to go get the teachers and-"</p><p>    Yamikage only heard their conversation briefly as he shot off. He didn't have time to listen to whatever those kids were chatting about. He had to get out of town because honestly, Yamikage was just embarrassing himself by staying. From what he remembered from that map, there wasn't any forest around, just beaches and more generally flat land.</p><p>    Regardless, he was not leaving the same way he came. He was going to go in the direct opposite direction, yessirree. After a glance to the moon, he oriented himself and ran. And he kept running, wind under his heels as he pushed through aching feet and frazzled mental state. </p><p>    He did the best he could to avoid people but he just couldn't help it, sometimes his luck was bad and he ran into some anyways. Regardless, he was leaving a wake of chaos behind him as he ran himself out of town, through paddy fields, then eventually out into the green lands ahead of him. He kept running, running, and running further.</p><p>    He kept close to the beach so he knew where he was going, but he ran until the town wasn't even in the distance anymore. He knew that they'd hunt him, and if he rested for even an hour they'd be able to easily catch him. No, he wouldn't be caught. </p><p>    With nothing but the pain in his feet and the wind in his hair, he had to think to try and keep his mind off said pain. The wind was mostly fine. Stars, what was all of that? What went on just now? He didn't even think, he barely thought a single thought as he did all of that. After that call, after hearing what it said, his rational thoughts had just bid him goodbye.</p><p>    Over a month since the line's been operational. That's not possible, no, that's not possible, Yamikage reminded himself as he continued to flee. They wouldn't let the line go unrepaired for longer than twenty minutes, he'd heard from the technicians. Not to mention that they'd only ever had like, three incidents of the service being down, all for less than five minutes.</p><p>    It was more likely for eNeMeE to straight up die out of nowhere than it was for emergency lines to be down for an hour.</p><hr/><p>    He'd literally run until exhaustion struck his legs and slapped his stupid self onto the ground. He'd ran until the beginning of afternoon of the next day, and he slept until the dusk. His eyes had crusted with seasalt when he woke up, still out in the open. Still not found, by the sounds of just the waves around him rather than the clanking of prison chains.</p><p>    Yamikage wiped at his eyes and face, getting the salt and bits of sand off of him that had traveled to him from the nearby beach. Pushing himself from his laying position, his legs yelled at him in soreness. He grunted slightly, grabbing one particularly sore bit with his hand as if that would stop the muscle from hurting. </p><p>    Then, he forced himself completely up. He gave himself a brisk walk at most. He just needed to keep going, and keep walking. He just needed to walk away and he'd be fine.</p><p>    He'd left that town in chaos and they were probably on red alert looking for him. He'd gotten far enough away that they'd probably stopped looking for him and figured for him to have been beyond reach. Still, though, it was best to keep walking and get moving as soon as physically possible.</p><p>    His walk along the beach was generally undisturbed other than the hisses of pain he kept making. With the sun setting, the beautiful colors of oranges and dark blues coming, it was pleasant to see. It would not, however, be very as pleasant to continue walking around in the dark. </p><p>    Yamikage kept looking over his shoulder the entire time on his walk, checking to make sure that there was no one behind him. With the sun setting, the harsh shadows and light of the sun were fading into nothingness and slowly casting things into the dark.</p><p>    While he wasn't sure there weren't any stealthy people in that town, he just prepared for the worst. He was very much out in the open, so the only person who'd be able to sneak up to him would have to be some sort of ninja who could use illusions. </p><p>    Which he was pretty sure against ninja code, using magic. Well, that didn't stop him,— as shown last night,— but it usually stopped others. As far as he knew, at least. He supposed that wouldn't stop a random illusion mage which could very well be following him.</p><p>    Yamikage twitched when he heard sounds of grass being stepped on behind him. He pulled out his sword in an instant, swung around, then sliced his blade to create an incredible gust of wind that would knock anyone over.</p><p>    Except there wasn't anyone there, and he didn't hear anyone hit the ground either. Eyes narrowed, he looked around him in all directions. Including up. No, there wasn't anyone around him. His nerves weren't satisfied with that conclusion, though, so he'd kept his sword out just incase something were actually around him. Actually messing with him.</p><p>    Illusion magic.. Illusions, auditory hallucinations. Someone had to be messing with him.</p><p>    Yamikage continued forward, and in his cold silence he listened to the sound of the night's waves. He appreciated it as much as possible for background noise as he moved through the night at the same pace an old woman would. His now constant checking to see if anyone was around slowed him down considerably, maybe even a snail could go faster.</p><p>    He thought he heard splashes in the ocean from people running in the sand. When he looked towards the ocean, all he saw were some fish flopping nonsensically on the surface. It's almost like they were trying to get his attention, because when he originally tried to ignore them, they just followed him down the beach, continuing to flap around.</p><p>    Maybe he could take his mind off things with food but if he were to kill and eat these fish he'd need a fire. He couldn't have a fire. One because there's no wood or tinder around (all the grass was moist rather than dry), two because that was a stupid thing to do, and three because he didn't eat fish. </p><p>    So, Yamikage headed towards the ocean, feeling like he was being lured by something malicious the entire time. When he reached the shore, where the ocean's licks were just a couple inches away, the two fish seemed to focus on him, stopping their flapping.</p><p>    Yamikage just stared back.</p><p>    Yup, a nice staring contest between some fish and a war criminal.</p><p>    Yamikage just sat on the sand after a little bit, feeling comfortable enough to finally rest after multiple hours of just marching along. He relaxed, slightly, with the eyes of these two fish on him. He sighed, trying to ground himself back in reality with the sight of these two.</p><p>    They just sort of bobbed there, quietly, looking back. Then, one of the fish sort of dipped its face into the water, pulled out, and let out a small spray of water towards Yamikage. It was aimed for his face but it didn't reach far enough.</p><p>    The mist of it reached him, causing his eyes to water from the salt. Wiping his face before any tears came out, he debated getting up and continuing his walk. It took only a couple seconds for him as he got off the sand basically just as quickly as he got there, returned to the grass the beach was next to, and kept walking.</p><p>    The fish only followed him down the coast for a couple minutes more before disappearing entirely.</p><p>    The night wasn't disturbed further, thankfully, but Yamikage still felt as though he was being followed by something, or someone. As the hours ticked by, he got less and less proof that such a fear was indeed the case.</p>
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